"Oh sister, oh sister, let's walk the seashore
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, let's walk the seashore
And see the ships as they sail in oar"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
Bow, balance to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
The oldest pushed the youngest o'er
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand
And you'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand"
Bow, balance to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand
But I'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Bow, balance to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Until she came to the old mill dam
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
A miller, he got his fishing hook
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he got his fishing hook
And fished that maiden out o' the brook
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings
To push the maiden in again"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller, he received those five gold rings
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he received the five gold rings
And pushed that maiden in again
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
Bow, balance to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
For drowned the little sister Kate
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, let's walk the seashore
And see the ships as they sail in oar"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
Bow, balance to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
The oldest pushed the youngest o'er
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand
And you'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand"
Bow, balance to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand
But I'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Bow, balance to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Until she came to the old mill dam
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
A miller, he got his fishing hook
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he got his fishing hook
And fished that maiden out o' the brook
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings
To push the maiden in again"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller, he received those five gold rings
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he received the five gold rings
And pushed that maiden in again
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
Bow, balance to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
For drowned the little sister Kate
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
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I was just looking this up on Wikipedia, and as it is with lots of murder ballads, there were a lot of variations on the lyrics other than the version Tom Waits used. In one of them the miller doesn't enter into it at all, and the jealous sister actually does get punished: Someone makes a harp or fiddle out of the drowned sister's bones and hair, brings it to the family's house as a wedding present for the oldest sister and Willie, and at the wedding the instrument starts playing itself while singing about the murder.